St. Martain’s Church

Anthony Lord (2/17/1900-10/09/1993) was born in Asheville. He best known as an architect, watercolor painter, and metalworker, He was the son of William Henry and Helen Lord. He played regularly under his father's drafting table, and was introduced to literature and history by his mother and his aunt. Lord graduated from Asheville High School and went to Georgia Tech to pursue a B.S. in mechanical engineering. After a short time off, during which he attended the Art Students League in New York, he enrolled at Yale University. In 1927 he received an M.F.A. in architecture from Yale. During his senior year, he had reached the final stage in the Prix de Rome competition. With seven months free, he and a friend decided to go to Europe. During his travels he created several works of art that documented his journey. Upon returning from Europe, Lord earned his architectural license and went into business with his father.
When the Great Depression hit there was very little work for architects, so Lord decided to make ironwork to adorn existing buildings. He reopened a private practice, and worked as an architect and engineer in 1935. The Asheville Citizen-Times building was the first large-scale commission he had: it only took fourteen months for the building to be finished. That same year Lord served as the president of the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
In 1950 he banded together with five other local architects and formed Six Associates, Inc. Architects and Engineers in order to be able to collectively handle large government construction. Their first job was a 1,750 bed general rehabilitation hospital. They built another one in Nashville, and a third in Thomasville, Georgia.
Throughout his life, Lord was concerned with trees, and was frequently involved in a battle for more plantings in downtown areas. The Asheville City Council concluded that their was no philosophical or administrative reason that trees should not be planted downtown, and nearly twenty years later the Tree Commission was formally organized.
The Asheville Art Museum had a retrospective exhibition of Lord's work in the summer of 1984. The artist died in Asheville in 1993